Without a doubt, Google is one of the smartest, most innovative companies in the world, but in its core business — online search — it’s being routinely shown up by Microsoft’s third-place search engine, Bing. Bing is a surprisingly fast-moving, innovative product — and it’s forcing Google to play catch-up time and time again.

Years ago, for example, Google set itself apart from other search engines by focusing on making its homepage load faster than everyone else’s. Then, last year, Microsoft launched Bing with a colorful, photography-driven design. Then, last year, Microsoft launched Bing with a colorful, photography-driven design. For a day, Google even replaced its default background with an image, mimicking Bing’s look. Many long term loyal Google users, such as myself, were not impressed with the decision, however. as a result, Google quickly reverted back to the plain white look. And this wasn’t the first time Google’s hand was forced by Microsoft.

However, For all of Bing’s new ideas, it hasn’t translated into big gains in users. The latest numbers from comScore show that 63 percent of searches in the U.S. are performed on Google, but just 13 percent are done on Bing. So, while Microsoft gets credit for innovating and forcing Google’s hand, it’s not paying off.